Nunavuts minister of Families agrees the child welfare system is in crisis: Now what?

Nunavut’s new minister of Families has only been on the job since late November, but Gwen Healey Akearok says she knows there are big issues to tackle to protect vulnerable children. “I was in the hearings in this past spring when the, auditor general provided their most recent report on the state of, child protection and family services in Nunavut,” Healey Akearok told APTN News Infocus. “So I was there in the room, in the gallery, listening.” “It’s a topic that’s important to me. I want to see a system that supports our most vulnerable children.” Earlier this year, representatives from Canada’s auditor general’s office presented their findings on the state of the child welfare system in Nunavut. Previously, the AG said the system was “in crisis”. That’s how Jane Bates, Nunavut’s child and youth representative, would describe it as well. In her latest annual report, she argued that little progress has been made by the territorial government since the issues were first raised over 15 years ago. “As I look back over the year, I would like to say that things are trending in the right direction, but that’s not the current reality, particularly in the areas of child sexual abuse, suicide prevention and child welfare,” Bates stated in the report. On InFocus, Bates said the government must take action to make the system safe for children. “There is a child sexual abuse crisis, that has been declared. There’s a suicide crisis that has truly has been re-declared—it was originally, declared ten years ago, roughly—and there’s a child welfare crisis,” she said. “So, you have these three major crises going on, which face young people and quite frankly, it’s their lives .” Healey Akearok, who is also a public health researcher, told InFocus that there are people working to address the needs. “I feel like we can’t underscore enough the importance of prevention,” she said. “[That] Includes community education, the ways we support our families. Strengthening mental health services, addressing overcrowding and social determinants of health. “It really requires all of us and all our partners to work together on some of those, upstream supports and early interventions.” In her September note to the legislature, Bates had a message. “I urge the new government to be bold and act swiftly to address these long-standing issues. Nunavut needs action, not explanation.” She said she wrote it for a reason. “I think it just reflects what I’ve been saying, for some time when I appear at standing committee,” she said. “I’m not interested in an explanation. I’m interested in action.” “Fix it. Deal with it.” Continue Reading